The Ball State women's basketball team will look to win Wednesday night their third game in a row against the Eastern Michigan Eagles and make head coach Tracy Roller the all-time winningest coach in Ball State history.
"I appreciate all the hype," Roller said. "It's just hard for me until we reach that ultimate goal to really appreciate what we've done the last three years."
The Cardinals are only a half-game out of first place in the Mid-American Conference West division at 9-7 overall and 4-1 in the conference. They sit behind Western Michigan, and are a half-game ahead of Bowling Green and Toledo.
Eastern Michigan won its first two conference games easily, defeating Akron 93-37 and Central Michigan 87-50, but has lost its last two games. The Eagles come into the matchup 9-5 overall and 2-2 in the MAC.
The matchup will feature the MAC's leading rebounding team, Eastern Michigan, against the MAC's individual rebounding leader, Ball State senior Jessica Reiter. Reiter averages 11.3 rebounds per game. Saturday she pulled down a career high 18 boards. The Eagles grab 44.1 rebounds per game, as well as allow a MAC-low 33 rebounds from their opponent.
"I know Jessica Reiter will step up," Roller said about winning the rebounding battle. "I think she's excited about this game because of that."
The teams are neck and neck when it comes to scoring. Ball State averages 73.6 while Eastern Michigan averages 73.3. The difference, however, is in how many points the teams allow. The Eagles allow a MAC-leading average of 54.6 points per game, while the Cardinals give up 72.1 points per game.
The Eagles are led by preseason second team All-MAC junior guard Ryan Coleman, who averages 13.7 points per game. In conference play, she is averaging 19.3 points.
Sarah Vanmetre and Nikki Knapp also average in the double figures with 12.2 and 11.7 points respectively. Vanmetre and Knapp also lead the team in rebounding, with 7.6 and 7.4 respectively.
While the Cardinals are led by junior Kate Endress in scoring with 19.1 points per game, recently senior Johna Goff has been the top performer. She scored at least 20 points in each of the last two games, which earned her the right to be named a MAC Player of the Week.
The Cardinals continue to focus on themselves more than their opponents, in hopes that it will help fix their turnover problems and help them play to their potential.
"We just have to go in there, and we have to take care of the ball and crash the boards, and we really have to focus on us more than worrying about them," Reiter said. "If we do what we do right, then we'll be fine."
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